Esmy Jimenez is a bilingual reporter born in Mexico and raised in rural Washington state.
Esmy Jimenez is a bilingual reporter born in Mexico and raised in rural Washington state. She covers immigrant communities in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. A University of Southern California alum, her studies focused on environmental science and international relations.Before the world of journalism, Esmy had stints as an Alaskan farmhand, a state park employee in the California redwoods, and in many kitchens and offices. She eventually landed her first reporting job at Northwest Public Broadcasting covering the rich communities of the Yakima Valley. Her work has appeared with High Country News, The Washington Post’s The Lily, and National Native News. She is an NPR Next Gen Radio and ProPublica/Ida B Wells Data Institute fellow. When Esmy’s not reporting, she is talking about eating or eating while talking.
In Spokane, Washington, Michelle Aguilar Ramirez is met with cold stares when she speaks Spanish. With demographic changes and political shifts, many Latinos like Ramirez are now trying to find their place in a divided United States.